51 
nine cents per pound, the second year for nine and a half cents; this year 
I sold the first of October for eig'lit cents. My cows have netted me 
about twenty-four dollars per head. I strain my milk at night in a tin 
vat surrounded by water, the tin vat being enclosed by a larger wooden 
vat; I then stir the milk until it cools. In the morning I skim the cream 
from the milk; heat it, stir the cream until perfectly melted, and then 
mix thoroughly with the milk in the vat. Immediately before adding the 
rennet I warm the night’s milk by passing steam through the water in 
the vat, and when at blood heat I add rennet sufficient to bring the curd, 
in thirty or forty minutes—when the curd forms, it is cut up with a knife 
or curd-cutter. I then allow it to stand for five or ten minutes, un¬ 
til the whey rises on the top of the curd, I then break it carefully with 
my hands. When the whey has risen sufficiently I dip it off and put on 
a strainer—I dip off what I can—then break it up with my hands care¬ 
fully, and then let in the steam again ; and so keep wheying and breaking 
it up until it is scalded sufficiently. I then salt it and then put it into the 
press. When it has been pressed six or seven hours it is turned over, 
and remains in the press until the next cheese is ready. It is then taken 
out and bandaged, and then greased and turned every day until a rind is 
formed, after which no grease is needed, but the cheese should be turned 
and rubbed every day. I would recommend the Devons as the best 
cows for the dairy, because they best endure the cold storms and hard win¬ 
ters. The Durliams are a good breed of cattle, but'they require more care 
and better keeping than the Devons. In Wisconsin we are so destitute 
of sheds and barns that we, of necessity, want cows that can withstand 
the inclemency of our winters.^ For pasturing I prefer timothy and 
clover—white clover is the best—I sowed some and it has done remark¬ 
ably well. I am of the opinion that the dairy business will be good for 
several-years, for we have a good home market now; and when home 
markets are glutted we can send to the Eastern markets, and sell cheaper 
than Eastern farmers can afford what they manufacture. 
“E. Herrick.” 
The Committee in their report express their regret that the great agri¬ 
cultural State of Wisconsin should have imposed upon them a no more 
arduous duty than that of examining two firkins and four jars of butter, 
averaging about forty pounds each, and six whole cheeses. 
